The Catgut Acoustical Society grew out of the research collaboration of Carleen
Hutchins, Frederick Saunders, John Schelleng, and Robert Fryxell, all amateur string
players who were also interested in the acoustics of the violin and string
instruments in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their intense correspondence
concerning the acoustics of the violin and other musical instruments led to the
founding of the Society in Carleen Hutchins’s garden on 16 May 1963 sitting around a
ping-pong table where they referred to themselves as the “Catgut Acoustical
Society.” The name started out as a joke, but it was never changed. (Catgut, made
from animal intestines, is the material traditionally used to make violin strings,
as opposed to metal strings which are commonly used today.) In May 1964, the Society
published its first Newsletter, an informal, typewritten periodical printed by a
stencil duplicator. It soon matured into a scholarly research publication and was
edited by Fryxell until his death in 1986. The Newsletter was published twice a year
in May and November from 1964-1984 for a total of 41 issues. The title changed to
the Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society with no. 42 (November 1984), and the
issue numbering continued through no. 48 (November 1987). With the May 1988 issue,
an editorial board was established and a policy of peer review was instituted. The
numbering changed to vol. 1, no. 1 (Series 2) and continued through vol. 1, no. 4
(November 1989). The final title change to the CAS Journal began with vol. 1, no. 5
(May 1990), ending with the final issue of vol. 5, no. 1 (May 2004), its eightieth
issue. In 2004 the Society merged with the Violin Society of America as the CAS
Forum. The purpose of the Violin Society of America is to promote “the art and
science of making, repairing and preserving stringed musical instruments and their
bows.” The VSA publishes the Journal of the Violin Society of America and the VSA
Papers.

Extent

50 journals

Availability

Access to articles where copyright permission has not been granted may be consulted
in the Stanford University Libraries under call number ML1 .C359.